Romance Wrap-up 4/16/21 - 4/30/21

 Forbidden Touch - Iona Rose

This story follows long time best friends Brooke and Blaze.  They grew up together, work at the same company, have just bought a house together, and they always put their friendship first.  Blaze needs a date to his brother's wedding in Hawaii and instead of bringing one of his many short term girlfriends along, he invites Brooke.  Tropical setting, warm weather, skimpy bikinis, what's not to like about Hawaii?  As they inevitably give into their attraction for one another, they then have to grapple with the question of what crossing this line means for their friendship and how to proceed once they return home.  Overall, I liked this book.  Friends to lovers is my jam and I really got the feeling that Brooke and Blaze were really good friends.  They seem to have a genuine connection and we know from both POVs that while they do find the other incredibly attractive, neither wants to risk losing the friendship.  Where this book lost points with me is the characterizations and how the series of events played out in the story.  We're told that Blaze seems to work his way through a lot of short term girlfriends and that makes Brooke basically unable to see him as a viable long term partner.  But we never see that part of Blaze or really any indication that he's any sort of player.  But the issue comes up again and again with Brooke so it does seem like a pretty significant part of Blaze's personality that the reader just doesn't get a good picture of.  Also, having the relationship start during a week vacation/destination wedding almost made the stakes too high in the beginning so when they returned back to their normal lives, it was a little bit like the tension wasn't as high as I was expecting it to be. I think if we would have gotten more lead up of them being friends and maybe getting a little extra close as they renovate the house together (maybe seeing Blaze start and end another relationship) then have the wedding as more of the climax in the middle where they finally give into their feelings would have been more satisfying.  

Baking Me Crazy - Karla Sorensen

This story follows best friends Levi and Joss.  Levi's family has a 'curse' where the men fall in love only once and they fall hard.  Levi fell for Joss the moment they met but she was still recovering from an illness and getting used to her new life as a wheelchair user so she only wanted a friend.  They've been friends for 5 years and a new guy in town flirting with Joss at her bakery job has her feeling like she might be ready to actual start dating.  Levi now wants to find a way to show Joss that he's been in love with her for years and that he can be more than just her friend.  Friends to lovers is a preferred trope and this was one of my favorites I've read.  I really liked how the first 1/3 of the book is just Levi and Joss being friends.  We know Levi's feelings for Joss, but he is 100% respectful of her timeline and the two genuinely have a great friendship.  Sorensen has a note at the beginning of the book about her research and sensitivity readers she used in regards to Joss's condition (Transverse Myelitis) and her wheelchair use and how the focus was Joss's journey and how she is living her life.  I can't speak directly to the representation, but as an abled body reader I didn't find the book to be condescending toward Joss or getting into an 'inspirational' type of story.  I really enjoyed getting to see so much of Joss and Levi's friendship and the transition from that to a dating relationship.  However, I do wish we would have gotten more of a transition because I felt like the shift was a little too fast. I wanted them to do more dating or smaller things together while testing the boundaries of this new relationship.  I felt like once Levi decided to try and actually woo Joss that he did like 2 things and then kissed her and confessed his feelings and then boom they were dating and sleeping together.  I just wanted a bit more romance, more wooing, and more time for Joss to see Levi in this new light.  I did like the relatively low angst in the book and how supportive Levi's family and Joss's coworkers are.

 

Lessons in Corruption - Giana Darling

This is the first book in the Fallen Men series and follows 18 year old King and his 26 year old teacher Cress.  The two meet after Cress leaves her husband and moves to a small town to teach at an elite private school.  King is the son of the president of the local motorcycle club and new student at the school.  The two have an instant connection and chemistry but their situation is complicated by their student/teacher dynamic and Cress trying to find her true self after being labeled as the 'good girl' for years.  I'll admit, the student/teacher dynamic made me really hesitant to pick up this book and the scenes of King and Cress at the school were my least favorite parts.  I loved their relationship outside of school, but I just had such a hard time getting onboard with the scenes at school.  King reminded me of Heath Ledger's character in 10 Things I Hate About You where he was this sort of scary, cocky, super handsome guy who seemed to take any attention in stride.  Of course, as this is a MC romance, King is an alpha hero but he has such as sweet and poetic side as well. As much as I liked them together, I didn't love how hot and cold Cress was when it came to their relationship.  She kept trying to stand her ground but then would melt when King would do something romantic. They kept having the same conversation over and over about their relationship and the potential repercussions and I just wanted them to finally have one big blow out to figure things out.  I really liked the second family Cress found in the other members of the MC and I'm excited to continue in the series.

 

Didn't Mean to Love You - Christina C Jones

This is the second book in the Serendipitous Love series and follows Viv and Carter.  At the opening of the book, Viv finds out that her boyfriend has been seeing another woman at the same time and is now engaged to the other person.  Carter - Viv's neighbor and friendly acquaintance - comes along to be a friend and help cheer her up.  The chemistry is undeniable and the two quickly fall into a routine but when they start falling into bed together, they both will need to face their fears about relationships and figure out if they can be together even if they didn't mean to be more than friends.  I really liked Carter and Viv together, they are pretty similar outgoing and ambitious people.  They really seemed to support each other in their professional lives and were cheerleaders for each other.  I loved their friendship and especially loved how easy they managed to just click and work together pretty much from the beginning.  There were a few time jumps throughout the book, usually just a week or two, but it happened frequently enough that it made the pacing feel a bit choppy.  While I do appreciate how the main conflict revolved around Carter's feelings and anxieties around labeling the relationship, I would have expected those to come up in smaller ways earlier in their relationship.  Like maybe a stranger making a comment about how they're a cute couple and Carter correcting that person a little too strongly that they aren't in a relationship or something.  It just felt like the emotional side of the conflict came a bit out of the blue for me.